Rana R. McKay, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses the results of a phase II trial of intense neoadjuvant hormone therapy followed by radical prostatectomy in men with high-risk prostate cancer. The data show that 21% of patients had a favorable pathologic response (Abstract...
Seema A. Khan, MD, MPH, of the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center, discusses phase III trial results showing that in newly diagnosed metastatic stage IV breast cancer, locoregional treatment of the primary tumor did not offer a greater survival benefit than systemic therapy (Abstract LBA2).
Howard A. Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, talks about some of the reports of research developments he is looking forward to and how future conferences could incorporate virtual presentations.
Thierry André, MD, of Hôpital Saint-Antoine, discusses the phase III results from KEYNOTE-177, which showed that, compared with standard chemotherapy of FOLFOX or FOLFIRI, pembrolizumab doubled median progression-free survival, from 8.2 months to 16.5 months, in patients with microsatellite...
The combination of carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd) did not show superior efficacy in patients with newly diagnosed myeloma absent a high-risk disease prognosis, compared with the standard of care: bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRd). Data from a planned interim...
Women who present at diagnosis with advanced breast cancer have faced an unanswered question: will local therapy, consisting of surgery and radiation to the tumor in the breast, prolong survival compared to the traditional treatment of systemic treatment alone? Now, data from the randomized phase...
Combination therapy with the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) inhibitor ivosenidib plus the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax with or without the chemotherapeutic agent azacitidine showed activity in patients with IDH1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a phase Ib/II trial. The results of the...
Data from clinical efficacy and biomarker analyses conducted for the single-arm phase II PrE0505 study of the initial treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma were presented by Patrick Forde, MB, BCh, and colleagues during the Lung Cancer Oral Abstract Session at the ASCO20 Virtual ...
David R. Wise, MD, PhD, of New York University Perlmutter Cancer Center, summarizes three important studies in prostate cancer: circulating tumor cell count as a prognostic marker of PSA response and progression in metastatic castration-sensitive disease; new phenotypic subtypes; and how...
Michael S. Hofman, MBBS, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses phase II results from the ANZUP 1603 trial, which showed that in men with docetaxel-treated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, LuPSMA was more active than cabazitaxel, with relatively fewer grade 3 and 4 adverse...
Richard L. Schilsky, MD, Chief Medical Officer of ASCO, talks about some of the most important and practice-changing findings presented this year at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, including the use of targeted and immunotherapies in earlier lines of therapy, where they have made a...
Merry-Jennifer Markham, MD, ASCO’s Cancer Communications Chair, gives her views on key papers presented at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, addressing gynecologic malignancies and COVID-19.
In an international trial, treatment with MK-6482, a small-molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2a, was well tolerated and resulted in clinical responses for patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease–associated renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The results of the phase II trial were shared ...
Geriatric assessment–driven interventions—such as physical therapy, nutritional recommendations, and social support, among others—can reduce toxicity due to chemotherapy in adults with cancer aged 65 years and older, according to results from a randomized clinical trial presented as part of ASCO20...
Patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and a mutation that leads to mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) exon 14 skipping had a 46.5% objective response rate to the targeted therapy drug tepotinib, as shown in a study presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program...
Positive results from two cohorts of the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study provide real-world evidence to support recent clinical trial data that demonstrate a role for olaparib in the treatment of advanced prostate and pancreatic cancers with BRCA1/2-inactivating...
Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from the CALGB/SWOG 80702 trial of celecoxib plus standard adjuvant therapy with fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX). Adding celecoxib to standard chemotherapy did not significantly improve...
Fatima Cardoso, MD, of Lisbon’s Champalimaud Cancer Center, discusses the long-term results of MINDACT, a large prospective trial showing the clinical utility of the 70-gene signature MammaPrint for adjuvant chemotherapy decision-making. The primary distant metastasis–free survival endpoint at 5...
Howard A. Burris III, MD, FACP, FASCO, President of ASCO, talks about what to expect from this year’s ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program and its many offerings.
David C. Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, of the University of Pennsylvania, who trained as an oncologist, summarizes his opening lecture, a dramatic story of his battle against Castleman, a disease of the lymph nodes, his multiple near-death experiences, and the path that led him to develop a cooperative...
Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase III results of the BEACON CRC study, which confirmed that, compared with standard chemotherapy, encorafenib plus cetuximab with or without binimetinib improved overall survival and objective response rate...
On May 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ramucirumab (Cyramza, injection, 10 mg/mL solution) in combination with erlotinib for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19...
On May 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of people with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have not received prior systemic therapy. The review of this application...
The final results of the randomized phase II ECOG-ACRIN E3311 trial were presented by Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, and colleagues during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program (Abstract 6500) and in today's Head and Neck Cancer Oral Abstract Session. The trial, conducted in patients undergoing...
Nancy U. Lin, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the HER2CLIMB study of patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that had metastasized to the brain. Adding tucatinib to trastuzumab and capecitabine doubled the intracranial response rate and reduced the...
Shaji Kumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses findings from the ENDURANCE trial, which showed bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone should remain the standard of care in patients with newly diagnosed standard- or intermediate-risk multiple myeloma, for whom early autologous stem cell...
Over the years I have become increasingly proud of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. I believe that ASCO is unique among specialty societies—at least in the various disciplines of oncology and hematology. Our Society is amazingly democratic (ie, with an independent nominating process and...
It has been 5 years since ASCO has been part of a new publication, the last being the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP). As the ASCO Board and leadership evaluated the publication mix we recognized there was a gap that needed to be filled. The Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), now 25 years old, ...
Christopher Sweeney, MBBS, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, talks with Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, about the first study to demonstrate a survival advantage with avelumab for metastatic urothelial cancer. In the trial, avelumab improved median overall survival by...
Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of Yale Cancer Center, discusses data from the ADAURA study, which showed that compared with placebo, osimertinib as adjuvant therapy after complete tumor resection reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 79% in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (Abstract...
Sharing his perspective on KEYNOTE-177 with The ASCO Post was Axel Grothey, MD, Director of GI Cancer Research at the West Cancer Center, OneOncology, Memphis. “This is a very important, highly anticipated study,” he said. “It’s the first randomized trial of any checkpoint inhibitor in...
For the first time, upfront treatment with immunotherapy has improved—in fact, doubled—median progression-free survival in a subset of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The findings are from the interim analysis of the randomized open-label phase III KEYNOTE-177 trial comparing the...
Two novel biomarkers have been found to correlate with improved outcomes with immunotherapy in metastatic breast cancer and may help to identify the patients most likely to benefit from this treatment, according to exploratory studies reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
Cancer-related fatigue is a prevalent and potentially persistent issue among breast cancer survivors. A study presented by Di Meglio et al at the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2020 (Abstract 183O) has now shown that existing recommendations and proven strategies for reducing fatigue—which can...
Final analysis of the LOTUS trial has shown numerically longer overall survival with ipatasertib plus paclitaxel vs placebo plus paclitaxel in patients with inoperable locally advanced/metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. In all biomarker-defined subgroups (PTEN normal or low, PIK3CA/AKT1/PTEN ...
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2020, Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, of Baylor University Medical Center, reported results from an interim analysis of the PHranceSCa study (Abstract 80O). The study investigators found that over 80% of patients preferred...
Patients with breast cancer younger than 40 generally present with a characteristic profile—later-stage disease and more aggressive tumors with poorer prognosis—according to findings from a new study analyzing one of the largest patient data sets compiled to investigate age-related breast cancer...
Telephone outreach coupled with scheduling assistance significantly increased screening mammography setup and follow-through in a population characterized by low rates of screening mammography and high rates of advanced breast cancer at diagnosis. These are findings from a new study conducted by...
The majority of women with multiple tumors in a single breast reported good or excellent satisfaction with the cosmetic results of lumpectomy, despite loss of significant breast volume and often multiple incisions. These findings are from an ongoing multicenter prospective trial examining the...
On May 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) and two cycles of platinum-doublet chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no epidermal...
On May 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved brigatinib (Alunbrig) for adult patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as detected by an FDA-approved test. The FDA also approved the Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit...
GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer (GO2 Foundation) has promoted Jennifer C. King, PhD, to the role of Chief Scientific Officer. In her new position, Dr. King will be responsible for leading scientific and research priorities for a global patient advocacy group dedicated to saving, extending, and...
The symptoms of low-grade oligodendroglioma first appeared in the summer of 2003, when I was 12, but they were vague enough—mild headaches and occasional weird sensations on my right side—to ignore. In the fall, I tripped and fell during a game of rollerblade hockey with my classmates and started...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays, historical...
The Reagan-Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in collaboration with Friends of Cancer Research recently announced the COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator, an expansive public-private partnership combining the efforts of academic, government, and private sector organizations...
Most who leave a mark in life are noted for a single contribution; few are remembered for the breadth of their contributions. Such a man was John W. Yarbro, MD, PhD, who, near the end of his rich life, stepped foot on Antarctica, completing his desire to have visited all of the world’s seven...
My journey in cancer medicine started in June 1968, when I traveled from Lebanon to New York to begin my fellowship in medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Since then, and on a daily basis, I have been actively engaged in the treatment of patients with cancer and in cancer...
The human drama within the oncology world is a never-ending story of triumph, tragedy, and all of the valiant efforts and human emotions in between. The doctor-patient relationship in oncology is deeper and longer than in most medical specialties due to the life-and-death stakes at play after a...
A new study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Genome Analysis Network, a collaborative group with investigators in the United States, Canada and Europe, provides the most comprehensive look to date at the effect of ancestry on the molecular makeup of normal and...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Radium Era: 1916–1945 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...